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Post by yooom on Sept 16, 2018 17:50:29 GMT -6
“Believe in the impossible…” the voice was raspy, and the old man’s chest heaved, and struggled to even breath, much less speak, sitting up on the fading gray bed. Armond Mendoza leaned closer to his father, putting the old man’s weak hands into his own, and giving them a slight, reassuring squeeze.
“I will, Dad,” Armond said, his voice soothing, both pairs of green eyes locked in on each other. His father’s eyes looked nervous, uncertain, and he coughed horribly for a few moments, before speaking.
“Everyone...everyone thinks I’m lying, or crazy, but...but I know what I saw.” Arthur’s eyes watered slightly, and Armond felt a lump in his throat at the sight of his father crying. “I know what I saw.” he repeated, before breaking into another outbreak of coughs.
“I believe you, Dad.” Armond said, his own voice gravelly, as he tried desperately not to break.
“Promise me.” Arthur’s hand tightened for just a moment around his son’s. “You’ll show everyone...you’ll show everyone I’ve always been telling the truth.”
“I promise.” Armond said, quickly, his father’s expression so desperately urgent. They stared at him, right into his soul, and it was their urgency that woke the young Keverian with a sharp gasp.
He blinked, the bright sunny day painful on his eyes. Squinting, spitting sand out of his mouth, Armond looked out over the beach. It would have been a nice, pristine landscape, white sands and soft waves, were it not for the hulking wreck of Titan a hundred or so feet out, anchored by the reef they had snagged the last night. Its sails fluttered pathetically in the faint breeze, but nothing short of a hurricane would be able to simply blow the Titan out its quandary, though another hurricane was the last thing they needed.
Armond’s gaze shifted downwards, from the beached Titan to the sands around him. He could see several figures laying around him, his shipmates, laying where they’d collapsed, exhausted from the night they’d had, battling the elements, and, while losing their ship, they’d survived the vicious storm. Armond sat up, scooting up the beach slightly to lean heavily against the thick trunk of a palm tree. He could barely count a dozen or so people laid out on the beach. “Is...Is this really everyone that’s left?!” He murmured out loud.
“Armond!” a voice cried out, and Armond whirled around, to see another, unfamiliar face. It was a taller, older man, with a scraggly, greying beard, and a deep green coat that was still soaked with sea water. Armond frowned slightly.
“Who…?” Armond’s voice trailed off, but the old man seemed to understand.
“Bah! It’s me! Jonathan Hearty!” Armond gazed at him, nonplussed. “I’m the First Mate!”
“Oh!” Armond said, hastily. “I’m sorry, I’m...I’m still learning names and faces.” Jon scoffed.
“Well, boy, It’s good to see ya. I remember watching the Captains pulling you out from the water, it looked like you’d lost your senses in that storm. Glad to see you’re feeling better.” He gave him a rather awkward pat on the shoulder.
“Yeah,” Armond said, his mind elsewhere. The image floated back into his head. It had only been for the briefest of moments, but it was clear in his head. The figure, shrouded in the dark, murky water, its long, dark tail clearly visible all the same: the mermaid. She had seen their ship, and, if these were its home waters, she was likely quite aware that they were stranded on this island for the foreseeable future. Armond had been crushed when he’d been wrestled away from the Titan’s decks, but, at the thought, a spark of hope came to him, that maybe, somewhere at the bottom of the ocean, she was still there, thinking about the humans on the surface.
Somewhere, at the bottom of the ocean, the youngest of Kaimahina’s Royal Family awoke. Evangelion rose slowly, brushing her long purple hair out of her eyes. She slid out of her soft bed smoothly, her long dark purple tail swaying powerfully as she rose uprise, stretching luxuriously. As she awoke, memories of the night before flooded back to her, the terrible beauty of the storm, the little ship bobbing on the water’s surface and...her sister. Evangelion moved across her bedroom, opening the high doors and entering the antechamber to her and Guinevere’s bedrooms. Her sister was not there, but the door to her room was closed. She wondered if her sister was in, or if she was already out and about. She stared for a moment at the dark ornate door to Gwen’s room, lost in thought.
What had Finn and Gwen talked about, Eva wondered, on the long trip from the surface to the Royal Castle? She could scarcely imagine the rage Finn must have unleashed on her older sister. She pictured it, Gwen stoically staring at the castle, Finn shouting and raging at her, Obs sneering over at the both of them. And what would their mother say? The thought gave Eva pause. Had Finn gone to her? Would he go to her? Finn had been trying to do more and more around the castle and the kingdom, and the Queen was ill, but this was such an important issue, surely he couldn’t leave their mother out of this matter.
Evangelion opened the large door that separated the antechamber to the Princess’ Chambers from the rest of the castle, to find two figures waiting in the doorway. She let out a slight gasp of surprise, as the two armed mermen turned to face her, dressed in shining, black, scaled armor.
“Ah, Princess Evangelion.” said one, the slightly older one. “We were hoping if you could, um, wake your sister, Princess Guinevere, for us.” the young mermaid frowned slightly.
“What seems to be the problem?” she asked. She, as far as everyone else was concerned, had not left the palace last night. That Gwen was in the slightest bit of trouble was news to her, of course.
“Prince Finnegan Aurevandis, um...requests her presence in the throne room.” the other merman said, with a hesitant tone that suggested that this was far from a request. Eva sighed. She hated it when Finn acted like he was king. Even though it was his destiny, even if for all intents and purposes he was king, none of his siblings enjoyed being “summoned” by him.
“I’ll go check on her,” Evangelion said, swimming back into the room, letting the door to the antechamber slide shut. Hesitating for a moment, she knocked twice.
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Post by Cydonia921 on Sept 16, 2018 18:10:40 GMT -6
For some time, after the storm died down and the ship had been ran ashore, Meltem could have sworn that she had died. In the heat of the moment the night prior, she found herself lurched and thrown across the cargo bay of the ship. The last thing she remembered was the momentum of the ship having a rough landing, the feeling of losing her footing, then the intense pain that came with hitting her head on the nearest box.
When she came to, Meltem had to get up, legs feeling as if they were made of jelly, and lean against one of the boxes. Her stomach felt as if it had been churned to the brink of throwing up, nausea taking her senses by storm. After a minute, Meltem had to recollect herself.
So I’m on a ship with pirates. My food’s soaked. But at least I’m away from that man.
When she had come to that conclusion, a sigh of relief escaped her. Even if she did feel sick to the stomach, at the very least she had successfully fled Carcino. She put her hands on her waist, taking in a deep breath of that salty air that infested the hull.
“Maybe some fresh air will do me some good.”
Taking a moment to skip around, getting the feelings back in her legs, Meltem had been about to ascend the stairs to poke her head out. But something stopped her. Something dreadful struck her at that moment.
“I’m on a ship full of pirates…”
Pirates meant men. Sure there had been that one woman she briefly saw last night before she climbed up to the bay, but what other woman would hang around pirates? Meltem gulped, clenching the railing tightly as her entire body sunk into a chilled state. The realization made her uncomfortable. She had snuck onto the ship with the shawl, that covered her from shoulder to knees, but she had no idea where that went in between getting knocked out and waking up.
That meant they will see her in the dancing outfit she had on her. That meant they would probably try to woo her and encourage her to dance for their drunken desires. That meant reliving the tavern.
Stepping back, Meltem looked down at her outfit. It was ironic; back in Oryan, or even in the tavern, she didn’t mind walking around like this. It had been a good source of money when she got flashier outfits, striking peoples’ interests and having them give her more coin. Yet now, it had been a barrier. Something to be afraid of.
What should she do?
~*~
What should she do?
That was the question Gwen thought to herself constantly. Having gotten little sleep the night prior, mulling over and over what Finn had said to her, she had kept the giant clam closed. Even though it looked inhospitable from the outside when it was shut like this, locked from the inside for privacy, small holes allowed the light to stream through, waking her up on a natural schedule.
Being a mermaid, she preferred this over some form of sheets like she knew other mermaids had. If anything, this benefited her, as a warm current could go in and out whenever she wanted. Not only that, but the morning sun had a resplendent factor, allowing the interior to shimmer like a thousand diamonds.
Plus, it allowed her to keep little memoirs of her exploits here, hiding it underneath the velvet-like tongue that the clam had put in for her. Little jewelry that fell from the surface, bottles with letters in them that she hoped to open one day without ruining them, and, oddly enough, a device that appeared broken. Gwen hoped that she could have Evangelion look at it in private when the chance rose to figure out what it is.
Having gotten little sleep, Gwen wanted to curl up in her clam and never come out. Go into the fetal position and never wake up. When the knock on the door was heard ringing through the water, she made an audible groan. It was either dealing with Finn or someone incompetent in handling with her situation, she was sure of it! Stuffing the little tidbits of human life underneath the tongue, she unlocked the clam and opened it up.
“Not now! Who is trying to wake me up at this hour?!”
Blinking, Gwen noticed that it had been well past the hours of the dwindling night. The storm had subsided, with no thunder bellowing through the city. That’s right… Last night she had touched a human. A handsome one at that.
Clearing her throat, she corrected herself, feeling that if it actually had been Finn on the other side of the door, he would burst in and metaphorically slice her to bits with his crass language. “I mean, I’m trying to sleep here. Whoever it is, can it wait until later?”
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Post by Mini on Sept 16, 2018 20:59:03 GMT -6
Not far from where Meltem stood envisioning a terrifying future full of images of herself dancing lewdly around a roaring bonfire getting leered at by drunken old men missing nearly all of the teeth came what was quite possibly the most pitiful groan she had ever heard.
"Gabh mo leithscéal... dún é!" came a groggy, gruff sounding voice from the far corner the hold. It was followed by another pitiful groan, this one a bit louder than the last one, but still quite pitiful sounding.
The sound of some scuffling, muffled curses, a large thud, then lastly a groan drifted across the fairly empty hold. From behind an overturned crate came a mop of scruffy, sandy, unkempt, black as a raven's feather hair that belonged to none other than one poor Lorcan O'Leary. There was a nasty looked gash on his forehead above his right eye and what looked like the start of a very ugly bruise forming along his right cheek. His jacket was missing, and his shirt was ripped open in several places. Despite having been below deck most of the night, he still looked rather damp.
Returning to the world of the living seemed like it had been a difficult journey. It was quite some time before Lorcan seemed to fully process his surroundings. Something had been loud enough to pull him out of the darkness he had been drifting in, but what was it? Blinking several times and groaning in disgust as he tasted sand and salt, he finally seemed to fix his dark eyes on the feminine figure standing frozen on the other side of the hull.
"Ach, lass, yer talkin' mighty loud for so early in the mornin'," he groaned, his accent thicker than usual. He tried sitting up better, rubbing his temples with a soft hiss. His fingers found the gash and he grumbled something beneath his breath. Sighing dejectedly, he leaned his head back against the rough wood of the ship behind him. The warmth from the sunlight felt good on his cold face.
Wait... sunlight? Below the decks??
With a start, Lorcan jumped up and away from the sunlight. Sure enough, several planks had been unforgivably ripped clean off the side of the Titan. As Lorcan gaped at it, memories from the previous evening came rushing back to him. Men falling overboard! Armond trying to drown himself! The stowaway he had stumbled across! The Captain's injury! The storm! The wreck!
Lorcan swore loudly as he glanced around and saw an even larger hole across the room. It was big enough that it appeared that they had lost a decent amount of their cargo as their ship had been buffeted by those horrendous waves. From where he was standing, he caught sight of a beautiful sandy beach. It appeared they were shipwrecked, then. Lorcan could only hope the damage wasn't severe. Surely it was already a miracle that Lorcan and this girl hadn't been tossed out into the sea as well.
"What a disaster this is," he said with a groan as he pushed himself up, frowning at the rags that clung to his upper torso. Shrugging in defeat, he looked across the room at Meltem, but his gaze remained firmly on her face. "I'm afraid there's no hiding you down here now, lass. Shall we go and see what's happened to the rest of the crew? Perhaps some of them will have figured out our food situation, at the very least."
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Post by Valkyria Grey on Sept 18, 2018 7:38:31 GMT -6
The warmth of the sun and the scent of the salty sea air, things that were very familiar to the pirate known as Ren Wilde. She would have happily laid there for hours, if she hadn’t noticed the sound of crashing waves nearby or the feeling of soft sand beneath her fingertips. Opening her eyes, her suspicions were confirmed by the sight of white sand and clear blue skies. Why was she on a beach and not her ship? How did she…?
Suddenly, her memory of all the events of the night prior came flooding back. The storm, one of the men falling in, Connor’s outburst and the ship colliding with the reef. And now her head filled with questions: Where were they, who was left and where was Connor?
She let out a small audible groan as she rolled herself on to her back, her silver eyes greeted by the harsh brightness of the sun. Several seagulls circled overhead, squawking and chattering to one another. Her body ached from last night experience, and her limbs felt heavy. She turned her head to the side, only to see a figure lying just a couple feet from her, facing away. However, just the sight of his black, untamed hair and dark blue naval jacket was enough to send a small sense of relief through her.
Ignoring the protesting from her aching muscles, Ren reached out to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
“Connor…?” she said softly. Suddenly, Connor jerked awake, grabbing on to her hand, his blue eyes wide with confusion. Upon seeing her face however, he seemed to calm down somewhat.
“Ren…” he began, but his gaze was drawn down towards the water, where he could see the Titan sitting on the reef they had ran upon the night before. While initially hopeful that the ship had remained intact, his heart sank at the sight of the large hole in the hull, probably sustained by their sharp collision with the reef, and there was some damage to the masts, no thanks to the hurricane winds.
“No…” he whispered, releasing Ren’s hand and slowly getting up from where he was lying. “No...no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no....” he repeated over and over to himself as he ran down the beach towards his beloved ship, just stopping before he reached the water. “It can’t….I need…” All he could do was stare at his wrecked ship in front of him, as his hopes of finding trident that he was so close to achieving, moved further away from him.
As he stood there, he could hear the slow crunching of sand behind him as someone approached. Ren stopped beside him, also gazing out at the reef bound ship, her trained eyes scrutinizing the details.
“Well, from here, it’s not the worst I’ve seen. It can certainly be fixed but it may take a while.” she said, looking back to him. Connor didn’t respond. She gave a sigh before continuing. “Look, why don’t you go check on your crew, and I’ll go and see if there’s any food and water we can salvage on the ship, okay?” At first, he gave no indication that he heard her, but after a few moments, he slowly turned, dragging he gaze away from the ship and started heading towards other figures on the beach that were beginning to stir.
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Post by yooom on Sept 19, 2018 10:31:09 GMT -6
Armond’s ruminations on the mermaid he was sure he’d seen were cut off a moment later when Jon joyfully shouted out “Captain!” Turning in the direction Jon had turned, Armond spotted the Titan’s captain, Connor Jackson, trudging out from the sand, and could for a moment make out the shape of his mate, Ren, behind him. Although the Captain’s body was intact, he had not lost any limbs in the crash, there was something deeply wrong in the way he walked towards them, his eyes determinedly on the sand, and not on the wreck of his ship that cast long shadow along the beach. He seemed defeated, hit hard by the loss of his ship. Armond was immediately reminded of the angry, broken boy he’d seen on the docks of Kakora all those years ago, whose father would never return. Connor had changed so much that day. The Keverian slowly approached his old friend, looking carefully into the sad, blue eyes. “How are you feeling?” Armond asked, tentatively. The answer was pretty obvious, he supposed, but it was still important to ask, to let him know that, despite their fight last night in the storm, that he still cared for his old friend. All the same, no matter what Connor or anyone else would say, Armond knew what he’d seen. It had been a mermaid, and, for the moment he’d spotted her, she had been beautiful.
Beside Armond, Jon stood a little straighter now that he was in Connor’s presence, brushing a bit of sea water out of his greying hair. “Well, Captain, there is certainly much work that needs to be done. What are your orders?” asked the First Mate, as if it was business as usual, and the crew was not stranded on a desert island, rescue unlikely and survival questionable for the moment. While the old man had faced many a dire predicament in his long career with Connor, and before that on other vessels, he did try to always stoically accept them, and set about fixing the ship. That being said, he’d never quite been in a situation this bad. The Titan had lost much of her cargo, her hull was damaged, and Jon doubted whether the remaining tools they could scrounge up would be enough to fix it. His eyes slowly moved from Connor across the water, to the vast wreck of Titan, still lodged in the reef, and he felt his expression grow more doubtful, despite himself. Wherever they were, it would be a long time before they’d be able to get moving again.
Far, far below the island, Evangelion still hovered by Gwen’s door, listening to her older sister carefully. She could hear the odd creak of Gwen’s clam opening, and, after a moment she heard the voice of the no doubt still sleepy older mermaid. She sounded irritable, which made sense to Eva, they had both gone to bed very, very late, and she had had to deal with Finn, who, irascible at the best of times, would have no doubt been absolutely raging. Evangelion only hoped that no one had spotted her and told Finn about it, though, if he only wanted Gwen, it seemed unlikely.
Regardless, it seemed that Guinevere was not coming out of her room for the foreseeable future. Evangelion turned, swimming the couple feet across the doors to where the two guards were still waiting. “She’s just waking up now. It’s still quite early, you know. Can you go tell Finn she’ll be ready in a couple of hours?”
“A couple of-” one of the guards repeated, more in horror than indignation. Finn hated waiting, and would certainly not take Eva’s message well at all.
“Well, you are asking a princess to appear before the throne, she needs time to get ready.” Evangelion replied swiftly, her tone defensive. The two guards looked at each other again, no doubt choosing between trying to push Evangelion uselessly or return defeated to a wrathful Finn.
“Do, um...do you think she might be able to come to the throne room a bit quicker than that? The whole court isn’t there or anything, it’s just…”
Feeling a bit sorry for them, Evangelion nodded. “I’ll tell Gwen to hurry up, but she’ll still be an hour or so.” The two guards exchanged another glance. “You two better get to Finn now!” Evangelion said, shutting the door and turning back to Gwen’s room. What did Finn have to say to Gwen? No doubt there’d be some kind of punishment, some plan to keep her under better watch that would no doubt extend to the youngest mermaid sister as well. And, more importantly, what on earth has possessed Gwen to go all the way up to the surface in the first place?
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Post by Cydonia921 on Sept 19, 2018 18:48:41 GMT -6
In her fright and disorientation, Meltem felt strangely embarrassed that she didn’t notice the large hole in the hull. Even now, as her bare feet felt the ocean sea wash over it with a thin layer, it had been hard to believe that she sat so close to where it ruptured, unconscious. That could have been her, torn to shreds from the coral reef they accidentally slammed into the night prior.
What a peculiar thought. Meltem took in a deep breath, paying attention to Lorcan as he emerged from the rubble, complained about the state of the ship, then he approached her. Staring at her with a peculiar intensity. The mention of going out to see the rest of the crew made her trepidations worse.
She had been tempted to say, “Should I?” that trademark Oryantal sass about to escape her. However, the way his gaze was firmly upon her, like a statue. Meltem grabbed her lengthy ponytail, having a strong sensation to atone for her stowaway status to this man. He could have throw her overboard without a second thought and leave her to the sharks. Yet he hadn’t done such a thing. Instead, he didn’t even duress her, and spoke to her with a steady tone. It wasn’t kind or anything of the sort.
Her ponytail slapped against her shoulder, still soaking wet from the water she had laid in. At least she had to put on a faux smile, as much as it hurt her to go outside.
“E-Evet-” She coughed. “I-I mean, yes. I do feel a bit-”
Her stomach let off a roar, and Meltem flushed red in embarrassment, covering her exposed stomach. “Sorry, I-I didn’t realize I was so hungry, heh…”
~*~
The conversation was muffled. Gwen could barely make out most of it, being located just past the door to her room. She could hear Evangelion’s voice talking to the guards. Perhaps Gwen could have her look at the strange device while she was here. Her sister had always been one of her favorite siblings. She was quirky, intelligent, and, although she had an abnormally large dorsal fin with stiff bone instead of her elegant, wisp-like tail, still managed to keep herself composed like royalty… for the most part.
For minutes they spoke, until Evangelion slid into the room, closing the stone door behind her. Gwen emerged from her shell, popping it open as she swam out into the open area of her room. Making no effort to hide herself, Gwen thought about escaping through the window, but decided against it.
“So, is Finn still mad at me?” Gwen inquired, her voice sour as she glared at her sister. She puffed out her cheeks, and didn’t give Evangelion a moment to respond to that. Instead, what ensued had been an rant that only in her true passion and rage could she obviate such a thing.
“You know what, forget I asked! Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that he would not only follow me up to the surface, but decide to chastise me in front of the whole town?! How dare he treat me like some child! I am the princess of this kingdom, second-in-line for the throne! You would think that he would give me some respect, but nooooo. Instead he grabs me by the hand, and embarrasses me in front of the whole kingdom! What did I do to ever deserve this kind of treatment?! For being curious about those humans on their giant turtles? Excuse me-” Gwen swam over to the open window, opened it up, and made a scream at the top of her lungs. Red-faced, feeling as if she had entered a fevered pitch, Gwen took in deep, heavy breaths, feeling her blood boil even more.
Although she hated to admit it, she shared a little bit of Finn’s temper, albeit for more introspective reasons. Leaning out of the window, Gwen could see the merpeople swimming around the ‘streets,’ although they were more avenues, given that they had tails. They swam in layers, above and below one another, in opposing directions, and had seemed to be in particular harmony.
Why couldn’t she be more like them? Was she cursed to admire humans for their strange sense of freedom? For their courage in mastering the elements?
With a deep sigh, Gwen allowed herself to lay on the windowsill, feeling even more tired than before Evangelion came in. Her eyes drooped.
“I’m… I’m sorry about that. I’ve had a lot of time to think about that. I hope you can forgive me for blowing up like that…”
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Post by Mini on Sept 21, 2018 22:37:13 GMT -6
Lorcan couldn't help but perk a thick eyebrow as the strange girl in front of him stood nervously clutching her sodden ponytail. He finally took a moment to look at her - really look at her - and it occurred to him that he knew absolutely nothing at all about this young woman whatsoever. She was obviously not from any of the port villages they normally frequented, as her skin tone and rather exotic clothing stood out quite a bit. He thought he caught a strange hint of an accent when she spoke, too. It certainly wasn't anything like his own brogue. So where had she come from? What was she running from? People didn't just hop onto a ship and do their best not to be seen unless they were running away from something. Where did she think she was going? Had she realized exactly what ship she had snuck onto?
And why did she look so nervous just now? Lorcan could see straight through the fake smile she had plastered onto her face. Her eyebrows were raised much too high, her eyes were wide open, and he could see all of her teeth. Having been around the block a few times in his interesting life, Lorcan was uncannily good at reading body language and picking up on little tell-tale features that other people ignored or were just completely oblivious to. Was she nervous because she had been discovered as a stowaway? Being as young as she was, and being female, Lorcan doubted anything would have befallen her even under normal circumstances. They would have likely just dropped her off the next time they made port. Now, though, she was one more mouth to find food and water for... but also potentially one more set of hands to help with ship repairs.
Even equipped with all of this knowledge and logic, Lorcan was still vastly at a loss when it came to figuring out why women said, acted, and felt the way that they did.
Her stomach growled loudly, causing him to break into a grin and a soft chuckle. At least that was a sound he could understand. "Ah, right, I'm sure you weren't at all hungry," he joked. Shrugging mostly to himself, he offered her both a smile and an arm to help steady her in case she was still feeling weak or lightheaded after spending most of the night unconscious. "Come on, out with ye. Like I said, no sense in pretending you don't exist, and also like I said, there's more than likely to be some sort of plan of action already brewing once we find the rest of the crew... or rather, what may be left of them."
Ren was a girl, right? Maybe she could figure out what to do with her...
~*~
Why me?
This was the seventh time Ling had this thought as he very slowly swam through the winding hallway on the outskirts of the inner court that eventually lead to the throne room. He had joined the royal guard shortly after graduating from Reef Academy, wanting to follow in his father and grandfather's swim strokes. As a boy, he had spent his days play-fighting with his schoolmates, staging dramatic rescues of both princesses from certain disaster, wrestling with dolphins and squids, and swimming against the currents to build stamina. When he was old enough, he began training with daggers, spears, and lances. He was a fiend with a lance in the training grounds.
He cursed at his ill fate. Tales of glorious Oldentyme battles between other mertribes, deep dwellers, and even the occasional land walker had surely filled his head with delusions of grandeur. He would have rather fought off a school of starved, frenzied hammerheads with both hands tied behind his fin. Nothing could prepare him for what he was about to do.
Ling had just reached the antechamber to the throne room. He paused there, gripping his spear tightly as he took a few moments to adjust his armor, making sure he was as presentable as could be. Why had he picked that shell?! Why had Bardrick even suggested they all draw shells to decide which one of them would go and deliver Princess Evangelion's message to her eldest brother? Of course he had drawn the short shell.
Exhaling deeply, he steeled himself and prayed to the gods for all of the courage they could spare, then pushed the heavy doors open. Ling vanished into the murky darkness as the doors slid shut behind him.
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Post by Valkyria Grey on Nov 3, 2018 18:09:23 GMT -6
Connor seemed lost in his own thoughts as the two crew members approached him, his dark blue eyes staring blankly into the sand. At first it seemed that he didn’t hear either Armond or Jonathan as he stopped in front of them, the light sea breeze rippling through his jacket and toying with his dark hair. However, he seemed to snap out of his stupor quickly, and his gaze snapped up to meet the two men, an attempt of a small smile appearing on his lips.
“Right you are, Hearty! There is much work to be done. The Titan has been in scraps before and this one will be no different. Ren reckons we’ll be able to repair her with some time.” While the captain was putting on his usual charming demeanor, the others could clearly notice something missing. A spark of some sort. “But for now, you two can help me find who’s left of our crew.” He slapped both of them on the shoulders before moving on further down the beach.
After watching Connor walk away towards his crew, Ren began to make her way towards the Titan, maneuvering herself carefully along rocks and reef, before she could finally climb aboard the ship. While glancing around to check if an crew had remained on deck, she make out the noise of chattering voices as she made her way towards the hold. she slowly descending the stair, her boots being greeted by the few inches of water that now covered the floor.
“Hello?” She called out as she made her way towards the voices, the water making a gentle sloshing sound as she moved through it. Upon reaching the source, Ren recognized Lorcan as one of Connor’s crew members, and the young Oryantal girl from the night before, whom Ren had completely forgotten about in the commotion. “Are you two alright?”
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Post by yooom on Nov 5, 2018 8:56:15 GMT -6
Evangelion simply stood by as her older sister raged about Finn. Although she still didn’t really know what had possessed her to go up to the surface anyhow, she did agree that Finn had been unfair to her, bringing her so publicly back to the palace. Moreover, Eva knew that Gwen’s shouting would be over rather quickly. Like the vast storms that sometimes set the whole city in shadow, Guinevere was quite explosive when enraged, but her fury would soon be over. Eva flinched somewhat at the mermaid’s scream, though it was aimed out the window, and felt herself grow a little more nervous. She had never seen her sister THAT upset, that frustrated. She wondered, for a moment, if yesterday hadn’t been Gwen’s first trip to the surface, whether she’d made a habit of human-watching.
Nevertheless, Gwen’s anger finally seemed to abate. With an aggravated sigh, the older mermaid set herself down against the window, giving Eva an apologetic expression. Eva gave her a small smile, and a little nod, before moving to sit beside Gwen, looking at her expression closely. She looked exhausted; Eva doubted if she had gotten any sleep at all. Both girls were fully aware that Gwen was in for a fight with Finn, and Gwen did not seem like she at all wanted to argue with her brother all morning.
“It’s okay,” she said, trying to make Gwen feel better. “You’re right, Finn was wrong to do that.” She paused, wondering what she could do. Finn would not take well to her getting involved, much less taking Gwen’s side, but, seeing her sister like this, and knowing that Finn was likely stewing in the throne room, furious that he was being kept waiting, Eva could not help but side with her. After all, Eva reflected, it was her fault that he was being kept waiting at all. “Tell you what,” Eva said, taking one of Gwen’s hands in her own. “We’ll go together to Finn. I told that guard that we’d be about an hour, so, we have plenty of time to get ready.” She gave Gwen an encouraging smile. “What do you think?”
“I think the Captain’s lost it,” Hearty whispered, quietly enough so that Connor would not be able to hear him. He and Armond followed a few feet behind their Captain, walking along the sandy shores of the tropical island. Armond had seen it too, the odd sort of daze Connor had been in, though he had been quick to recover from it, taking leadership of what was left of his crew. Jon was glad of this return to the usual, confident pirate captain, but the suddenness of it made him quite sure that Connor’s present bravado was a facade, and that he was still reeling from this entire situation. Regardless, orders were orders, and they would certainly need more than the three of them if they were to make Titan seaworthy again. “Right, Captain!” he called out, speeding up so that he was walking beside Connor. “There must be more of us out there.”
Although he was supposed to looking for more pirates on the beaches, as he followed beside Hearty, Armond found his gaze irresistibly drawn outwards, not to the near-beached Titan, but to the open sea, squinting at the eternally turbulent waves. The Mermaid was out there, somewhere, he was sure of it. They couldn’t have been too far from where he’d seen her, they’d crashed into the reef only a few minutes afterwards. As terrible as it was to think, this disaster might be just what he needed, an extended stay right on top of the spot he’d seen her. He wondered for a moment if this had been where his father had wrecked as well, whether it had been the same mermaid, or a relative of hers, that had saved them. Was this the only place they existed? Were they only deeper at sea, or would they come up to the shore, like seals? It sounded unlikely. “Um, Captain?” Armond said, hesitantly. “I was thinking, while you two go looking for the rest of the crew, maybe I should go out to the reef, try to catch us some fish.” He gave Connor a nervous smile. They would need to get food soon, and Connor knew well that the talents of Arthur “the Snatcher” Mendoza had been passed on to his son, but Armond was quite sure that Connor could see straight through his excuse, and would know why he wanted to spend more time further out at sea.
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Post by Cydonia921 on Nov 9, 2018 21:41:10 GMT -6
Her thoughts were astray. She could feel a sort of sickness swell up in her at the thought of seeing Finn. Would she explode on him? Or would it be a serenity that she desperately needed? She felt Evangelion’s hands press against her own, and her heart grew heavy. Despite Evangelion’s clumsy tail, she had the softest hands.
Why couldn’t hers be like her sisters? Even if it seemed perfect at first glance, she knew that her hands had seen enough roughness for three lives over. Ever since she had come across what looked like a mechanical trinket, with little gears and springs and other various pieces sticking out of it, she had been entranced with finding, and hoarding, everything that she could find concerning those two-legged humans up above. Her hands were scraped, bruised, beaten, cut, and she even had to hide her discomfort sometimes when she grabbed certain items after a grueling campaign to find these trinkets.
Shutting her eyes, Guinevere took in a deep breath. What was there to lose at this point? Her public image had been ruined with the night prior. She would get chastised by her brother at some point today anyway. Crass words crossed her mind, feeling herself trembling, not out of fear, but out of anger towards Finn. If he wasn’t the crown prince, and the next in line, who knows what horrors she could accomplish if given the chance.
No, Evangelion was right. They should go together.
Slowly opening her leaf-green eyes, Gwen let off a sigh. “Okay, together!” Clutching her sister’s hands tightly, she beamed, making a bit of a laugh. Even if it was fake, Gwen didn’t care. She had to be in a better mood, for her sister’s sake. With that, they swam out into the hall, closing the door casually behind them, with Gwen leading. It was only natural for the older sister to take the lead.
~~~
Before Meltem could answer Lorcan, who seemed less upset than she thought he would be, she twirled on the balls of her feet at the sound of Ren’s voice. Instinctively, Meltem piped up as Ren inquired.
“Evet! Ben iyiyim!”
She shot a glance back at Lorcan, not distrusting him, but more apologetic to him as she waded through the water. The chilled, salty water that splashed around as she lifted up her pants, trying to half hop, half sprint through the ship towards Ren. Her ponytail slapped against her shoulders, still sopping wet from being practically submerged the day before. Emerald eyes bright and beaming towards Ren, Meltem found herself practically latched onto her arm.
“I’m okay!”
A sort of nervous laugh escaped Meltem. It had been a very long time since she was alone like this. The last time that she had been alone, many people tried to lure her into places that were unappealing for a girl her age. Leering at her. Smecking at the sight of her in her habiliments. Then she met her.
For some reason, Ren reminded Meltem of her. The woman who protected her and taught her many things during her time in Carcino.
“That erkek over there and I were talking about going outside.” She lifted a leg, pulling her foot out of the water, showing off impressive flexibility inadvertently as she did so. After pushing it thoroughly, Meltem did the same to the other leg, all while clinging onto Ren’s arm, which made for an interesting display.
Without even a moment to think about it, Meltem inquired to Ren, “You’ll protect me, right?”
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Post by Mini on Nov 13, 2018 22:54:38 GMT -6
Not more than ten seconds or so after leaving the confines of their room, Obsidian slunk out of the dark corner he had been lurking in, he swam directly in front of both of his sisters, allowing himself to float upside down in front of him with his blacker than the abyss tail swishing about lazily above him as he made sure to block their path. "Good morning, Big Sis, Lil' Sis. Beautiful day, isn't it?" He paused to tilt his head towards Gwen, giving his black, silky bangs a bit of a flick. He noticed her incredibly forced smile and tutted at her, his dark eyes glimmering with mischievous intent. "Ooh, though maybe not. Where are you both off to looking so glum?" he questioned smugly, grinning as annoyingly as possible at both of them.
Always an early riser when there was trouble brewing, Obs had spent most of the morning (and previous evening) eavesdropping in on just about the entire palace. What surprised him the most out of all of this was the fact that his dear brother had awoken far before him and had vanished into the murk. Now he had surmised that Finnaginn had locked himself in the throne room thanks to what he had overheard from the guards, which happened to be one of the only rooms in the entire palace that it was virtually impossible to listen in on. His lurking around the rest of the palace, though, had earned him some juicy little tidbits here and there.
The highlight of his morning, which had actually just happened several short minutes ago, was when he heard one of the guards come bursting out of the throne room blubbering nonsense behind him as the heavy door swung shut. His face was as white as bleached coral. Several other guards came swimming up to him in a hurry, asking what had happened. The soldier - whose name might have been Ling? Ping? Thing? Obs didn't care all that much - had looked utterly horrified to say that all His Highness had said in response to what he had been bade to tell him was "all right, then." Very quietly. The guards all gasped and looked terrified to hear this, and it only took about three seconds for all of them to swim off speedily in all directions, leaving poor Ling shaking in his armor outside of the throne room door, and leaving poor Obs to wonder what had been exchanged between the two.
Practically everyone, from the kitchen shrimps to the most elite members of the guard, were whispering their two cents on what in the depths had transpired between the eldest royal siblings last night. Obs had heard some tidal wave whoppers ranging from saving a stranded, confused, and injured narwhal (did those even hang out in waters this warm?), stopping/preventing/causing some sort of commotion at the most recently discovered shipwreck, seeking out the Dark Magycks to predict the future/find love/stop love/kill someone, to his personal favorite of meeting up in private with a distant merpod to try and arrange and/or stop a marriage with Gwen. A very small number of people had correctly guessed that it had something to do with the surface, though nobody had hit the shark on the nose just yet with how severe of a case this actually was. Mother was still asleep, or so the nurse slipping out of her room had told him a short while ago, so he doubted very much that word had made it back to her yet. He imagined that if Finn could help it, word of this incident wouldn't reach their mother... but Obs doubted very much if that would be the case.
One thing was certain - there was no way he was missing the glorious smack down that was about to ensue between his eldest siblings. He would have put money down that one of them would filet the other within five minutes if he was a betting kind of merman.
~ * ~
"Oh, well, wouldn't you know it, I think that sounds like--"
Lorcan looked utterly flabbergasted as the girl he had been attempting to help took off running away from him as if he had sprouted two heads and burst into flames all at the same time. He didn't even bother finishing his sentence. Instead, he heaved out a heavy sigh as he watched Meltem practically glue herself to Ren. He had no clue what 'erkek' meant, but it was surely some nasty curse in the girl's native tongue.
What in the world had he done wrong? He had gone out of his way to protect the girl and keep her hidden from the likes of those who might not have her best interests in their minds, and this was the thanks he got?
Heaving out a heavy sigh, he trudged through the water and didn't even bother to stop when he reached Ren and Meltem. "Aye, we're just... peachy. I s'pose I'll go an' see what needs done outside, Lady Ren. Don't let the nasty 'erkek' bother you on the way out," he grumbled under his breath as he stomped loudly up the steps and headed off in the direction of the others.
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Post by Valkyria Grey on Feb 22, 2019 15:46:31 GMT -6
As Armond spoke, Conner stopped and looked back at him, his dark blue eyes watching him closely. Any other time, he would be inclined to agree, but given that this man had tried to stop himself from being rescued from the inky depths of the sea just hours earlier, the captain was now wary. It was true that they would need food soon, but the fact he seemed so willing to stay in that water, which would no doubt send one’s soul swiftly to Walkure, Connor was concerned that his friend had come down with some sort of madness or illness of the mind. Leaving him by the water edge by himself was a chance Connor could not take, given that he need all the men he could find to help repair the Titan.
“Your head is in the right place, Mendoza, but right now finding the rest of our crew is our priority. Besides, Ren has already gone to the ship to see if there’s any food to be salvaged from the stores. But perhaps once we have all pulled ourselves together a bit, you and I can do some fishing later, hm? Just like old times.” With that, he turned and continued trudging down the beach, his navy jacket rippling in the wind.
********
Ren stumbled a little when the girl latched herself onto her arm, mostly out of surprise. She was certainly not used to interactions like this. She opened her mouth to speak but the girl started talking before she could get the chance too. Then Lorcan muttered something as he walked past her, looking a little hurt, leaving both her and the stowaway alone.
The Oryantal’s question really caught her off guard. She looked down, and despite the girl’s smiling, was greeted a pair fearful eyes. In that instant, Ren saw her younger self in those eyes. Scared, confused and surrounded by possible threats. She only knew too well what this girl was feeling.
“Sure,” she said, giving a small smile. “Stick with me and you’ll be fine.” Her gaze then scanned over the rest of the flooded hold. “But right now, I need to see if we can salvage anything edible and hope the seawater hasn’t gotten everything. I could do with some help.” With that, she moved towards some crates that seemed somewhat intact and began opening them to search.
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Post by yooom on Mar 1, 2019 16:14:43 GMT -6
Armond felt a spurt of disappointment at Connor’s concerned expression. “Yes, sir,” he said, trying only a little to hide his disappointment. He’d lost Connor’s trust. Connor didn’t trust him by the sea anymore. Armond regretted trying to get back into the water last night, regretting trying to fight the rest of the crew for another glimpse of the mermaid. For the first time, Armond knew exactly how his father felt, when he’d been telling people back in Kakora about mermaids. It was an incredible discovery, but no one had ever believed him. Even Armond had had his doubts, but then, last night, he’d seen one with his own eyes. His father had been right all along! All Armond had to do now was prove it. His father had tried and failed of years to prove that mermaids were real, and now Armond was stranded only a few feet from where he’d seen one. Armond’s gaze turned back to the waves, and he stared pensievely into them, as if he could see her there, just under the waves. Armond was confident that he would be perfectly safe in these tepid waters. He could probably wade up to her den. He paused, lost in thought. Did mermaids live in dens? Were they loners? Did they hunt in packs? The idea of seeing a whole group of mermaids made him almost giddy, and he smiled at the thought.
Beside Armond, Jonathan Hearty stared at his silent compatriot, smiling blankly into the open ocean, so far the only survivor from the crew. The idea of being trapped on a desert island with only Armond and the captains for company suddenly seemed like an unimaginable torment. He turned, following Armond’s gaze out to the open sea, his own eyes fixing on the wrecked Titan. “Please, Ren...find some more survivors!”
An hour had passed before the Mermaid Princess finally left their rooms. They were dressed in their best, long, flowing robes of sea green, diadems gleaming with black jewels found in the very darkest corners of the ocean, necklaces festooned with pearls. As the door to the room swung open Evangelion heard a relieved sigh from one of the guards stationed nearby. She turned, to see him dashing off, no doubt to alert Finn that his sisters were FINALLY on their way. Evangelion turned, to look at her older sister, her expression concerned. Guinevere’s face looked stoic, she seemed ready, but Evangelion could tell that she was still nervous. She wasn’t ready for her secret trips to the surface to be exposed before the whole country. Evangelion gave Gwen’s hand another squeeze, and another reassuring smile, and they made their way to the throne room.
A handful of guards stood idly by the great black gates to the throne room. As Evangelion and Guinevere rounded the corner they straightened immediately, saluting their princesses. Evangelion nodded, and one turned to the gates, which swung slowly open. He pushed himself through hastily, clearing his throat.
“Prince Finnaginn!” he called upwards, to the throne, at the far end of the hall, before turning, gesturing with one arm to the sisters. “The Princesses Guinevere and Evangelion Aurevandis!”
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Post by Cydonia921 on Mar 3, 2019 10:43:01 GMT -6
“Edible?” Meltem repeated the word under her breath, unsure of what it meant. Even though she had been away from her motherland for three years now, there were still some words that flew over her head. Watching as Ren waded through the film of water, the only thing that she could do was sigh.
“Karnım çok acıktı…” she muttered rather miserably, turning her back on Ren, scanning the surrounding crates. Some of them had been ruptured during the crash, with sacks of grain and rice now saturating the water with its contents. Groaning, the Oryantal was exhausted, her head still as murky as ever.
Why did her decision to leave her motherland come to this? All she wanted to do was dance and become famous. Not everything else that came along with it. First she lost her friend, then had to duck out of Cylosian ships off and on to get to Carcino, only to be manipulated and miserable there, and now she’s here with a bunch of pirates. Pirates, of all things!
Ducking underneath a beam to get to one of these crates, Meltem noticed one that had been intact. Crouching down to it, her eyes stared apprehensively towards the letters that were etched into the side. Her fingers traced along it, but none of the letters made any sense.
Digging her fingers into the top, Meltem pushed her foot firmly against the ground, trying to pry open the crate. Grunting, Meltem hunched over her shoulders, and pulled as much as she could.
‘What on earth is in here?’ she thought to herself, trying her best to get this open. As she adjusted her foot, trying to get better gripping, it slipped from underneath her. The next thing Meltem knew, she had slammed back into the ground, sliding down the hull momentarily, only stopped by several other crates that had piled onto each other.
Gasping for air, partially submerged from the water, she broke the surface as quickly as she could. She thanked her blessings that the crates broke her fall, and thus prevented her from going further underwater than she had wanted, but her fingers were pained from the sudden motion of ripping them away from the wooden crate.
Twisting and turning, she had to get back up, but the floorboards were either submerged or slick with the salty seawater. “Ah!” she cried out, trying to catch the woman’s attention as much as she could. “Lütfen bana yardımcı olun!” Meltem proclaimed, before being submerged again during her panic.
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Post by Mini on May 6, 2019 19:47:23 GMT -6
"The Princesses Guinevere and Evangelion Aurevandis!"
The voice of the royal guard who had announced the unpunctual arrival of both royal Merprincesses echoed off the vast chambers of the Royal Throne Room, which was situated deep in the heart of the Kaimahina's Royal Castle. The room had been originally designed to make those who dared to flip a fin past its imposing gates to feel as tiny as a shrimp staring down a blue whale and as insignificant as just another grain of sand on the bottom of the abyssal plains. The room itself boasted an impressive ceiling height, coming in at at least forty feet tall. The curved walls, which spread outwards and then sharply swirled back together at the top, had been carved out serpentine, an irridescent rock that shimmered in hues of greens, silvers, and blacks. A gap at the top, not big enough to swim out of, let some natural light stream into the throne room, but today the seas seemed murky.
Large, irridescent pillars made of abalone wrapped around the outer edges of the room in a semi-circular pattern. Each pillar had beautiful forms swimming all across them: squids, whales, krill, dolphins, oarfish, eels, sharks, sea snakes, jellyfish, rays, merfolk - all manner of nautical life was represented. The shape of the room looked similar to the inside of an auger shell, albeit a very large one. Banners displaying the royal family colors hung at intermitent intervals, but seemed somehow dim and obscured in the relative darkness of the throne room. A massive coral chandelier, adorned with a combination of mildly phosphorescent minerals and algae, hung importantly from the ceiling.
Several colorful statues depicting a multitude of past rulers, war heroes, and other celebrated merfolk lined the tiled processional path leading up the throne on either side. Their blank eyes seemed to follow those who swam forward and dared to approach the throne. Several patches of sea grass grew between the statues - probably someone's attempt to try and make the room feel slightly less intimidating. If anything, it simply made the throne room all the more imposing. The sea grass swayed ominously back and forth, as if to greet those who entered with silent jeering and judgment.
The throne itself was made from a deep blue sapphire crystal that, before it had been meticulously hand carved out to form the throne, must had stood at least ten feet tall. The upper part of the throne had been carved into a pentagon shape, the top of which bore the royal crest of Kainahima: three circular waves in a triangular pattern, all swirling towards the center, at which there was a fin shape emblem surrounded by a small ring of bubbles. Two decorative tridents, also made of crystal, criss-crossed behind the seat of the throne and jutted out to either side. The crystal that formed the seat swooped downwards, forming a smoothed, pushed out raindrop sort of shape with arm rests to either side. The bottom of the throne had somehow been melded and fused together onto a large pillar of obsidian, which raised the throne up a solid ten feet above the large, open, sandy spot where guests summoned into the Throne Room were intended to float and stare awkwardly upwards at the throne. Several large, spiky seashells had been fused into the pillar that supported the throne. Next to the throne was a small, raised up pedestal with a circular indentation in it - this was the resting place of the Trident when it was present. The Trident was, of course, somewhere in the chambers of the Queen herself. The Throne Room looked rather empty without its omnipotemt presence, though.
Floating at attention to either side of the throne were two of the royal guard. They wore golden armor across their torsos and helmets made of thick shell on their heads. Both carried long spears and had decorative daggers hanging from both hips. There were always no less than two royal guards present in the throne room during such summons, as was customary. Neither merman said a word nor gave either princess a warm smile of recognition or familiarity, despite having known each one of them since the day they had hatched. Instead, they wore dark, unobtrusive scowls and watched as both princesses swam into the throne room.
At the center of the room sat none other than Prince Finnaginn Aurevandis. A silver coronet decorated with the same black jewels that his sisters wore graced his head. For once, it looked as though his long, auburn locks had seen a comb. Two small side braids, bound with kelp and done in the Old Traditional style, floated up and swished loosely along with the rest of his hair. Black cuffs hugged both of his ears tightly. Not unlike his sisters, it seemed Finn had dressed for the occasion. He wore shining shoulder guards made of tempered obsidian and shell. The straps crossed above his bare, muscular chest. Cuffs similar to the ones on his ears also hugged his upper forearms. He wore his favorite necklace: white puka shells mixed with bits of turquoise and lapiz lazuli, at the bottom of which hung a large black shark's tooth. In the same style as the guards, he, too, was wearing his favorite dagger resting at his left hip.
"Thank you, Sir Reed," called Finn, not so much a hint of anger or annoyance in his voice. Without making direct eye contact with either one of his sisters, he turned to the guards at his side. "Sir Alfihar, Sir Kyler, you are dismissed," he said casually with a wave of his hand. "You may wait outside at the gate. I wish to speak to my sisters in private."
Both guards glanced at each other before begrudgingly grunting, bowing, and swimming off towards the front of the throne room, where Sir Reed was still holding the door open. The three guards exchanged glances, then swam outside. The massive door swung ever so slowly shut.
It wasn't until the reverberation of the doors sealing in place had finished ringing off the walls behind him that Finn, casually pressing all of his fingers together, finally made eye contact with his sisters. He glanced down coldly at Guinevere first, but his gaze quickly turned to fall on his youngest sibling. "Evangelion, what a surprise it is to see you up and about so early in the morning. Oh wait, it's far past morning, isn't it? Dear me, you took so long getting here that it seems I've completely lost track of time," he said, feigning interest in a bit of dirt that may or may not have been under one of his nails. "Evangelion, I don't believe I called for you, did I? The summons was for Gwen, and Gwen only. I have something I would like to discuss privately with our dear sister. Privately means between just the two of us."
Frowning, he cleared his throat loudly and raised his voice. "Privately means JUST the two of us. That means you as well, Obsidian," he said, sighing tiredly as he turned to glare over to the third statue from the left. "Yes, I know you're in here. You've been lurking about in here for the last hour and a half. You're hidden inside the hollowed out statue of King Jorrah Jal Halva the Second. You seem to have forgotten that I'm the one who showed you that hiding spot in the first place."
"Wait, that was you?!" came an echoed shriek of disgust and indignation. After a bit of banging about, Obsidian's long, black tail could be seen wriggling itself out of the back of the base of the statue of poor King Jorrah Jal Halva the Second. A moment later, Obs' sulky face sneered up at his sisters and then his brother. Dark residue, likely from the inside of the statue, was smeared all over his face. "Aww, c'mon, Finn! No fair. I've had the worst arm cramp for like an hour now, and you seriously knew I was in there this whole time and waited until NOW to call me out on it?"
Finn closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath before answering. "Obs, Eva, I'm not going to say this again. Get... OUT," he barked, pointing markedly at the door.
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